FAIRLEE — A roughly one-mile stretch of Route 5 in Fairlee between Sawyer Mountain Drive, and Mountain Road remained closed Wednesday afternoon due to a rockslide the day before.
Fairlee Polic Chief Wayne Briggs said he spoke with Vermont Agency of Transportation officials Wednesday morning and that a crew was conducting a larger survey of a roughly 200-foot rock ledge where the rockslide began.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation did not return a request for comment by deadline on Wednesday.
After 1 p.m. Tuesday, a rockslide resulted in a large boulder, branches, smaller rocks and dirt spread along both lanes of Route 5 in an area known as “The Ledges.” No one was injured and no vehicles were damaged.
Motorists have been detoured to Interstate 91, Briggs said. The detour hasn’t posed any challenges so far.
“I’m sure it was an irritation to some people, but with the interstate being as close as it is to the Route 5 corridor it shouldn’t have been that big of a problem for a lot of people,” Briggs said in a Wednesday phone interview.
Looking back on Tuesday, Briggs counts the town lucky.
“We are very fortunate that no one was hit,” Briggs said. “The size of that rock, it could have been fatal.”